First Tank T-34 Combat on Jun 22 1941?

[Jeff Duquette]

From a internet cache...and a quick run through a translation program...found this quite by accident.

The soviet medium tank Т-34/76, admittedly both our allies and enemies, in the Great Patriotic war, was better tank of that period. German ran into Т-34/76 on the first day of war. “Miracle-weapon”, - was spoken in one German report about the Т-34, - “sowing fear and horror everywhere, where it appears...”. The first tank battle with participation of «тридцатьчетверок» happened on 22 June of 1941, when the 30 Т-34 tanks from the Lvov educational tank regiment attacked a flank of 15th Panzer Regiment 11th Panzer division. German losses included three PzKpfw-IV’s and two PzKpfw-III’s.

During the large tank battle of 1941, beginning 26 June, in the Броды-Дубно district, the Т-34 again showed its overwhelming advantage over the German tanks. One of the commanders of the newest German medium tank PzKpfw III gave the following report: The "lieutenant fired four times off into a Т-34 with shell PzGr.40 from a distance of 50 meters, one shot being fired from as close as 20 meters, but was not able to penetrate the tanks armor. Our fire was ineffective when Soviet tanks were approached. “The shells do not break through the armor, and shatter”. Other German officer from the 4th Panzer battalion 16th to the Panzer division wrote: “Over and over our tanks were destroyed or damaged from the direct hits of Soviet shells. The commander turrets (presumably cupola) on PzKpfw-IV and PzKpfw-III were torn away- the durability of their welding turned out to be obviously insufficient. All it speaks about the large power and exactness 76.2 мм armament of Soviet tanks... The offensive gust dried up, and was replaced by the inferiority complex, so far as against the Т-34 Russian we are powerless”. Although the excellent teaching of German Panzer Tactics partly compensated for the superiority of Soviet tanks….